Web Marketing vs. Yellow Pages – A Comparison 01/02/2011

With the fluctuating price of gas, more and more people are doing their shopping and research on the Internet.  Your website advertising can replace your printed telephone book ad.  A website is less expensive for you than the book and can be updated when needed while your Yellow Pages’ ad can be changed only once a year.  Providing an up-to-date, easy to navigate website for your customers is essential to growing your business.  You can provide more info in a one-page site than in an entire hard-copy Yellow Page ad.

Just think about this: You’re using an Internet marketing tool to read about Yellow Page advertising!  Why aren’t you reading about it in the printed telephone book?

Based on our experience with Web marketing, and as Web searchers, here are a few common answers to that question:

For Consumer products:

It’s convenient.
I don’t know where my Yellow book is, I think I threw it out.
I’m looking for something very specific.
I like to research my needs before talking to a sales person.
I’m shopping from work – it’s easier to use the Internet than a phone from cube land.
I can’t find out about the product/service I’m interested in through the phone book, and
Nobody would help me if I called a company to find out more about this product/service (phone-tree black hole)

For Business to Business products and services:

It’s convenient.
I like to research my company’s needs before talking to a sales person.
I don’t know where my yellow page book is, I think I threw it out.
I’m looking for something very specific.
I’m putting together an RFP (request for proposal) list and I’m researching who to send it out to, and
I can’t find out about the product/service I’m interested in through the phone book

While any advertising source delivering a positive return on investment for your business is worth pursuing, there is a definite trend toward online research for both consumer and business to business purchases.  Here are a few things to consider when deciding how your marketing budget should be divided:

• Ease of Use - People do what is easy. Access to the Internet via work, home, or any library has made getting online easy. According to Jupiter Media, over 64% of people who are looking for information online, use search engines. If I can type my problem or what I want into a search engine and find what I need, I don’t need to go through the 100 pages of ads in the yellow pages. Search engines are getting more precise down to an industry specialty and geographic focus, while also continuing to be easier to use.
• Cost Model of Yellow Pages vs. Search Engine – In reviewing these two models we need to compare the traits and cost basis of each media.   More. . .